Chicken Parmesan Subs

Happy Birthday, Drew!  He loves Chicken Parmesan but I think it can get a little boring sometimes!  I wanted to make him his favorite food for his birthday but put my own twist on it.  We're both big fans of a good sub, so I decided on Chicken Parmesan Subs.  This recipe serves 2-4.  Here's how to make it:

Quick Tomato Sauce

This is a really easy and inexpensive tomato sauce recipe for when you don't feel like taking all the time to make a hearty marinara.  It's good on pasta and pizza but I used it for Chicken Parmesan Subs.  Here's how to make it:

What you'll need:

1 onion, small dice

3 cloves of garlic, minced

28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade

Salt, as needed

Extra virgin olive oil, as needed

Coat the bottom of a pot with olive oil and heat over medium heat.  When the oil is hot, add the onion and season generously with salt.  Cook until the onion is translucent and tender.

Add the garlic and cook a minute more.  Add the tomatoes, sugar and oregano.  Bring to a bubble then reduce the heat to low and let simmer for about 30 minutes.  

Taste and season with more salt if needed then add the fresh basil leaves right before serving.  

Enjoy!

Cranberry Sauce

What you'll need:


12 oz. fresh cranberries

1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar

1 orange, zest and juice

1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Water

**If you want a sweeter cranberry sauce use 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  I like mine more on the tart side so I only use 1 cup of sugar**

Rinse the cranberries well and drain.

In a medium pot combine the cranberries, sugar, orange juice and a splash of water.  Make sure you zest the orange before you juice it or it will be very hard to zest!  Turn the heat to medium.

When the sugar is dissolved and the cranberries start to pop (I love the sound of cranberries popping!), reduce the heat to low and add the orange zest, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. 

Let it simmer for about 15 minutes until most of the cranberries have popped and it has thickened. 

Let cool completely then store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Ellen's Buffalo Sauce

Oh buffalo sauce, I love you.  I love anything spicy, especially anything tossed in buffalo sauce.  I put hot sauce on almost everything.  I haven't figured out buffalo ice cream or buffalo cake yet, but if I could, I'd probably eat it.  Buffalo sauce really isn't as bad for you as people think.  Sure, it has a lot of butter in it, but other than that it's just vinegar and spices.  As long as you limit how much you eat of it, just like everything else, it's not so bad.  It's a great way to add lots of flavor and spice to pretty much anything you want.  Wings, pizza, proteins on salads, sandwiches, buffalo mac and cheese, buffalo chili... anything! The list goes on and on.

Ellen's Marinara Sauce

I am such a big fan of pasta.  I know it's something I shouldn't eat all the time because it's pretty much just straight up carbs, but I don't care, I love it anyway.  I don't eat it all the time, but about once a week.  One of my favorite sauces of all time is a thick, rich and hearty marinara sauce.  In my opinion, a pasta sauce should coat the pasta and there shouldn't be a lot of excess sauce on the bottom of your plate.  This is my version of marinara and how I think it should be done.  In this recipe, I build different levels of flavor by using multiple techniques that each achieve a different flavor.